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To be fair a lot of brakes use the glycol ether-based DOT 5.1 instead of mineral oil and it’s a bit less inert. But it’s non-volatile, easy to protect against by wearing gloves when doing maintenance, and a complete bike only contains a few milliliters in total in the brake system. Lots of things people probably don’t think twice about working with in a garage or basement are more hazardous.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grolby (Post 22809616)

To be fair a lot of brakes use the glycol ether-based DOT 5.1...

Not at this price point. Tektros and the simplest Shimanos are endemic. My family now has five bikes with them. The cheapest SRAM brake only tends to appear on mountain bikes, especially fat bikes. No other DOT brake is cheap. DOT is pretty much only for nerds who opt in

Cues just released. Looks awesome IMO. The Preamble would have been 3000 level probably. https://www.bikeradar.com/news/shima...q_PIDGczRZdIog

It's going to drive the retrogrouches nuts

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Lefty (Post 22815243)

It's going to drive the retrogrouches nuts

The lack of 3x components? I thought that as well. I have long been an accidental later gen retrogrouch, i.e. Through my own choices of bikes, I have never had more that 9 speed drivetrains with QR, but I think Cues looks great. I am excited by the possibilities for upgrades that it offers and the wonderful compatability, not to mention the focus on robustness to reduce maintenance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PDKL45 (Post 22815446)

The lack of 3x components?

The 1x, the no triples, the all same spaced cassettes and single pull per shift and 11 speed chain size. It all makes sense together but is not back compatible with any old stuff at all

Yep, already have seen complaints about lack of backwards compatibility. But at some point you have to rip that bandaid off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Korina (Post 22809085)

Easier maintenance and fewer toxic fluids? Just a guess.

TRP Spyres are dual puck mechanicals and would not involve chemicals. Single puck mechanicals are so aughts. Even my 2005 rig has BB7's. BB5's were outclassed even then and BB7's are still single puck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grolby (Post 22809132)

No. Fluids aside, hydraulics require much less maintenance than mechanical discs and so they’re much more user-friendly, useful on an entry-level bike like this. PDKL45 covered this already, but not only do mechanical brakes need regular adjustment, they can’t be adjusted merely by increasing cable tension, a fact that catches out even experienced mechanics. Surly would spec hydraulics if they could hit the price point and/or if they were available. This is a shame but not too surprising.

They are saying they used lighter and thinner tubes than on some of their other bikes. Who knows what that translates to in practice, a $900 complete bike is unlikely to really deliver on ride quality. But it’s nice to see they were thinking about it. Also, this might be the most self-aware sentence I’ve ever seen from a Surly blog post:

$549 for a frameset is actually kind of intriguing. If I have enough parts lying around I could even see myself picking one of these up at some point for cruising around the neighborhood.

'Simply Red' was $550 complete in 2018 and is 2x Claris with Alex wheelset. If $1K complete is a 'budget' commuter in 2023 then I'd better baby 'Red' because the CFO is not going to allow any n+1 at that price point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leisesturm (Post 22819295)

Good idea, because maintenance is like

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leisesturm (Post 22819295)

I don’t think I used the word “budget” in my post. Nonetheless, a $1000 complete bike is very constrained and the kind of steel frame a company can afford to hit that price point is extremely unlikely to deliver on great ride quality and isn’t even going to be meaningfully differentiated from a similarly-priced aluminum bike in that respect. That’s all I was saying.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grolby (Post 22792852)

What’s interesting is the bike in the photo looks like it doesn’t have rear rack mounts, but does have a full set of fork mounts. I wonder if it’s just a preproduction bike in the photo, me missing something, or a classic Surly quirk.

The lack of hardpoints for mounting a rack and fenders was the first thing I noticed when looking at it. Clearly not a commuter bike for me.

I find it clearly designed to take a front rack, with a rear rack as the second option. It still has the dual eyelets at the dropouts in the rear. You could use a collar mount for the upper stays, or a single to the fender eyelet.

But it has more mounting holes on the fork. Top, mid, and dropout. Low rider, or not low rider, or basket. Notably not 3-pack. And it definitely has fender mounts.

There are some things about the bike that I don’t like. That’s going to be true for any bike presented at mass market to picky people. But no Surly ever made has had not enough braze-ons for its niche

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...93c652d72.jpeg